New Milford area holds up under snowfall

Published 2:02 pm, Saturday, February 9, 2013

Public works and highway crews in the seven area towns reported that all major roads were open early Saturday, and a full opening of secondary roads was anticipated by early evening.

Connecticut Light & Power reported no power outages as of 12:30 p.m. in New Milford, Washington, Warren, Roxbury, Bridgewater, or Kent. However, with the high winds, Sherman was experiencing 10 percent outages.

"We calculate we had some 12 inches of snow in town, but its difficult to say exactly, with drifting," said New Milford Public Works Director Mike Zarba. "All of the Main roads are open and we're working on secondary roads now. Every road has had at least one pass by the plows. When the final roads are opened, crews will begin pushing snow back off the sides of all of the roads. Right now, the passageways may seem a bit narrower to drivers."

Mr. Zarba and New Milford Mayor Pat Murphy encouraged residents to heed Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's road closure for all roads in Connecticut. The governor's ban on driving remains in effect until further notice.

"The public works crews have been doing a great job," Ms. Murphy said. "We haven't had any real incidents."

A parking ban remained in effect in New Milford on Saturday afternoon. Officials expected the downtown area to be plowed by 6 p.m., but Zarba said parking would still be limited.